5 intriguing storylines to track during huge College Football Week 8 slate

Will UCLA or Oregon emerge as Pac-12 favorites after College Football Week 8?

The stakes are always a little higher when ESPN’s College Game Day is in town, and that’s the case this week when the Game Day crew sets up camp in Eugene, Ore. to promote the clash between the two best teams in the Pac-12: the No. 9 UCLA Bruins and the No. 10 Oregon Ducks.

UCLA QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson (1,510 passing yards, 15 TD, 2 INTs) and Oregon QB Bo Nix (1,526 yards, 12 TD, 3 INTs) are putting up crazy big numbers and a major reason why both teams are putting up more than 40 points a game this season.

Excluding the Week 1 game against Georgia, the Ducks are outscoring their opponents 249-124 this season. UCLA isn’t far behind either, outscoring their opponents 249-136 so far this college football season.

These are two incredibly well-matched teams with strong resumes and are playing really well at the midpoint in the season. UCLA is coming off two consecutive wins against top-15 teams in Utah and Washington. Oregon blew out then-ranked No. 12 BYU earlier in the season by 21 points. Both the Bruins and the Ducks just had a BYE week, which has given them extra time to plan for this pivotal game.

The winner of this game will likely have the arbitrary title of best Pac-12 team until at least Week 12 when USC takes on UCLA and Utah faces Oregon.